MPlayer-0.90

Introduction to MPlayer

Download location (HTTP):       http://ftp.lug.udel.edu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.90.tar.bz2
Download location (FTP):        ftp://ftp.lug.udel.edu/MPlayer/releases/MPlayer-0.90.tar.bz2
Version used:                   0.90
Package size:                   3.3 MB
Estimated Disk space required:  44 MB
Estimated build time:           6.91 SBU
Additional downloads:
Win32 codecs
Fonts for OSD
Default Skin
QuickTime 5 codecs
QuickTime 6 codecs
QuickTime extra codecs
RealPlayer 9 codecs

The MPlayer package contains an audio/video player that is able to play almost every audio and video codec and can be controlled by command line or GUI.

MPlayer depends on:
xfree86-4.3.0 or DirectFB, GTK+-1.2.10 and libvorbis-1.0
MPlayer will utilize:
freetype-2.1.3, libpng-1.2.5, libjpeg-6b, libungif-4.1.0b1, 
aalib-1.4rc4, SDL-1.2.5, ffmpeg-0.4.6, xvid-0.9.1, 
oss, arts-1.1, alsa-0.9.2, LZO, 
libdvdnav, MAD, and CDParanoia-III-9.8

Installation of MPlayer

The extra downloads should be located in your source directory with the bzip2 files decompressed.

Note: The package maintainers recommend building without any optimization

Install MPlayer by running the following commands:

install -d /usr/lib/win32 &&
tar -xvf ../win32codecs.tar -C /usr/lib/win32 &&
tar -xvf ../qt5dlls.tar -C /usr/lib/win32 &&
tar -xvf ../qt6dlls.tar -C /usr/lib/win32 &&
tar -xvf ../qtextras.tar -C /usr/lib/win32 &&
tar -xvf ../rp9codecs.tar -C /usr/lib/win32 &&
./configure --prefix=/usr --confdir=/etc/mplayer --enable-largefiles \
--enable-gui --enable-menu --enable-new-conf --enable-qtx-codecs \
--enable-vorbis --with-reallibdir=/usr/lib/win32/rp9codecs \
--enable-freetype --enable-shared-pp &&
make &&
make install

Each user of MPlayer should complete the install by running the following commands:
mkdir ~/.mplayer &&
cp etc/codecs.conf ~/.mplayer &&
cp etc/example.conf ~/.mplayer/example.conf

Installing the prerendered Fonts

If freetype is in use, the only advantage of prerendered fonts is that they are faster. Install them like this:

install -d /usr/share/mplayer/font &&
tar -xvf ../font-arial-iso-8859-1.tar -C /usr/share/mplayer/font &&
for i in /usr/share/mplayer/font/font-arial-<size>*
do ln -s $i /usr/share/mplayer/font; done

Replace <size> with either 14, 18, 24 or 28.

Installation for DVD playback

If you want DVD playback with MPlayer, you need to make a link from your DVD drive to /dev/dvd:

ln -s /dev/<dvd drive> /dev/dvd

replace <dvd drive> with whatever device is appropriate, for example /dev/hdc. if you don't know which device to choose, type:

dmesg | grep DVD

It should result in an output like:

hdc: Pioneer DVD-ROM ATAPIModel DVD-114 0110,
ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive

If you have SCSI-Emulation activated for the drives, you'll need to get the right SCSI-device. Every CD/DVD-ROM drive is mapped in the same order as in IDE to the devices named /dev/scd0, /dev/scd1 and so on.

Command explanations

--enable-freetype : This switch tells MPlayer to utilize freetype fonts instead of the fonts provided by mplayer.

--enable-gui : This switch tells MPlayer to compile the gui code.

--enable-menu --enable-new-conf : These switches enable the new menu support. It's like an OSD, but you can also run a shell with it.

--enable-shared-pp : This enables the building of a shared libpostproc (library for post processing, featuring filters like sharpen).

cp etc/codecs.conf ~/.mplayer : This command copies the standard codecs.conf file to the user. MPlayer expects this file at startup.

cp etc/example.conf ~/.mplayer : This command copies the self documented configuration file to the user. We will create an new config file if you installed the gui or you can copy this file to config and edit it for your situation.

Configuring mplayer

Config files

~/.mplayer/config, ~/.mplayer/codec.conf

Configuration Information

If you wish to utilize a freetype font, you need to link a TTF file to your ~/.mplayer directory. For example:
ln -sf /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/luxisri.ttf ~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf
otherwise
ln -sf /usr/share/mplayer/font/iso-8859-1/arial-14 ~/.mplayer/font
where 14 is the font size. You can chose your font size of 14, 18, 24 or 28.

Set up the GUI with the following commands executed from your source directory:

cat > ~/.mplayer/config << "EOF"
gui = yes
skin = default
EOF
mkdir ~/.mplayer/Skin &&
tar -xvf ../default.tar -C ~/.mplayer/Skin

The first line, gui = yes, will make MPlayer start in gui mode automatically. If you want to decide whether to start in gui mode or not, leave that line out and start mplayer with -gui or as gmplayer (e.g. when starting from a Window Manager menu or command prompt).

Contents

The mplayer package contains mplayer, gmplayer and mencoder.

Description

mplayer

mplayer manages the input formats, the codecs and the output formats to play video files, DVDs, (S)VCDs or network streams containing audio and/or video informations on your system.

Examples:

mplayer -fs blfs.avi
mplayer -vo fbdev -fb /dev/fb0 -dvd 1 -aid 128 -sub en -framedrop
mplayer -fs -vcd 1; # works both for VCDs and SVCDs
mplayer http://www.students.uni-marburg.de/~Klossa/hapkidofight_lo.mpg

For further information, have a look at the very good documentation included in the package in the subdirectory DOCS/.

gmplayer

gmplayer is MPlayer with a graphical user interface.

mencoder

mencoder is used to encode any MPlayer-playable movie to DivX4, XviD or any codec in libavcodec with PCM/MP3/VBRMP3 audio.

Example:

rm frameno.avi
mencoder -dvd 1 -aid 128 -ovc frameno -oac mp3lame \
-lameopts vbr=3 -o frameno.avi

# mencoder should output bitrates for average encodings
# now, choose one you like best! In the following lines,
# replace <bitrate> and <name.avi> with statements of your
# personal liking.

mencoder -dvd 1 -aid 128 -oac copy -ovc lavc \
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=1:vhq:vbitrate=<bitrate> -o <name.avi>
mencoder -dvd 1 -aid 128 -oac copy -ovc lavc \
-lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vpass=2:vhq:vbitrate=<bitrate> -o <name.avi>
mencoder -forceidx <name.avi>